Broiler drawer and slide

ABSTRACT

A broiler drawer for a cooking range is carried by drawer guides each of which is made of a pair of similar metal channels each having a nylon guide block embracing and slidably guiding portions of the other and preventing metal-to-metal contact between the channels. The broiler drawer is releasably mounted on the movable channel by keyhole slots in its bottom wall engaging headed projections on the movable channel, and selectively releasable means within the broiler drawer normally hold the drawer against release from its guides.

United States Patent Nance [541 BROILER DRAWER AND SLIDE [72] inventor: Joseph W. Nance, Cleveland, Tenn.

[73] Assignee: Magic Chef, Inc., Cleveland, Tenn.

[22] Filed: Sept. 25, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 75,581

[52] U.S. Cl ..308/3.6, 312/34l NR [51] Int. Cl. ..F16c 21/00 [58] Field of Search ..3 12/341 NR, 346, 347, 345;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,318,800 5/1943 Rakow ..308/3.6 2,759,773 8/1956 Wilmer et al. ..308/3.6

2,733,972 2/1956 Diack ..308/3.6

3,025,560 3/1962 Lindner ..308/3.6 3,320,003 5/1967 Edelson et al. ..308/3.6

[4 1 July 25,1972

FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 983,250 2/1965 Great Britain ..3 1 2/346 Dutot ..308/3.6

Primary Examiner-Edgar W. Geoghegan Assistant ExaminerRonald H. Lazarus Attorney-Bacon & Thomas [57] ABSTRACT 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures BIEBT AVAILABLE COPY BROILER DRAWER AND SLIDE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to drawer slidesand'particularly to slides for broiler drawers in cooking ranges.

Cooking ranges are customarily provided with a broiling section wherein a drawer or shelf is slidable outwardly of .an oven compartment from a position beneath a broil burner to a position where the contents are accessible from the outside. It is often necessary or desirable to completely remove the drawer or slide from the oven for purpose of cleaning orthe like. It has been customary heretofore toprovide drawer slides having mutually slidable guide members that by proper manipulation can be separated so that the drawer and itsguide member can be removed-from a fixed guide member..Such..arrangements, however, have not proven fully satisfactory-since they require manipulations not easy to master and .often present problems in repositioning the broiler .drawerinthe oven. Furthermore, such prior drawer guides either reliedon or made possible metal-to-metal sliding contactbetween the guide members, each of which was necessarily of difierent configuration and construction from the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention providesdrawer slidesfora broiler drawer wherein the relatively movable guide members remain in mated relationship at all times. The relatively movable guide members are of substantially identical construction, thus reducing the costs and are provided with nylon bearing blocks configured to ensure that there will never be metal-tometal contact between the guide members. A- quick release arrangement is provided whereby the broiler drawerzitself'may be released from its guides for removal by means accessible from inside the broiler drawer and without necessitating unusual manipulation of the guide structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a cooking range 'having the present invention embodied therein;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view takcnon the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the drawer guide assemblies; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one of the low-friction plastic blocks.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Numeral 2 indicates generally a portion of a more .or less conventional cooking range having a shelf or support structure 4 fixedly mounted therein within an oven compartment 6. A broiler drawer 8 is mounted on suitable drawer guidesil0 for sliding movement into and out of the oven compartment 6. Conventionally, the broiling apparatus includes abumer (not shown) within the compartment 6 and over the broilerdrawer 8.

The broiler drawer 8 includes a bottom wall 12 and upstanding side walls indicated generally at 14. The bottom wall 12 is releasably secured to one of the guide membersof the drawer guides whereas the'other member is fixedly secured to the shelf or support 4.

Referring now to FIGS. 3-6, the drawer guides 10 comprise a pair of channel members 16 and 18 which are of substantially identical configuration, each being an elongated metal channel having a web 20, a narrow side wall 22 along one edge of the web and a wider side wall 24 extending from the other edge of the web 20. The channel members 16 and 18 are arranged as shown in FIG. 3 wherein the narrow wall 22 of each extends between and is spaced from the side walls of the member 16 is provided with..an :identical anti-friction block therein embracing the short wall .22 .of lthelower .channel member .18. The channel members 16 .and 18 .are provided with openings 30 in their web portions and the blocks -26.are provided with projections..;32:extendinginto a corresponding opening 30. The outer .endofeach block. 26'is fixed or secured to-its associated channel member by meansxof a rivet 34 or the .like. It will thus be seen that the anti-friction blocks 26-slidably guide .the channel .members I6 and 118 relative to each other and are so configuredas .to preventany metal-to-metal .contact "between those channel members and also prevent removal of one channel member from the'other in any direction except-longitudinally. After the guide .has been assembledito the.extent thus'far described, one-of.the:channel members, preferably 'thezmember =18, islprovided with spaced stop;membersr36=positioned toengage therivetedend of :the a block .26 on :the other-channel; member to thus ilimit. inward,

and outwardsliding movementof the upperachannel member relative .to the lower one.

The wider wall'ofthe .upper channel member 16 is provided with upstanding .projections 138,.each comprising a .stem ;p0rtion40and an enlarged head =42. The bottom-wall 1110f the broiler drawer x8.is =;provided with agpluralityof keyhole .slots comprising an-enlargement 44 at one endand .a-narrowerzportion 46.at'the.other end. The portion 44 is-large enough .to

.receive the enlarged heads 42 whereasthenarromportion 46 will just receivethe stems 40.0f projections38. This is a-well knownfeature oflkeyhole slot arrangements. Thus, the.broiler drawermay beremoved from its guides by sliding the same forwardly relative 'to'theprojections 38 and then lifting the same off the ,guides, .theheads or enlargements 42 passing freely through .the enlarged openings 44 of'the keyhole slots. By'reversely.manipulatingthe drawer itmay be replaced on its guides I0.

The drawer bottom 12 .and the .wall 224 of upper guide member. 16 are'also-provided with .further openings, one of which is shown at'50 in FIG. sand the other ofwhich is shown at 51 in 'FIG. 5. when the broilercdrawer is in the position shown in FIG. 1 relative toits guides, the describedadditional openingsin the bottom wall l2'and inthe .side wall '24 are in vertical alignment. LeafispringfingersfSZ aresecured-at .one end, such asby screws-54,10 theztop surface ofthe bottom wall :l2-of the broiler drawer and extend over the aligned openings justdescribed. Adependingpin-56 fixed on each leaf spring finger 52 extends downwardly'through the :described aligned openings and thus 'releasably locks-the broiler drawer against movement relative to its .guides .in a direction to lrelease thedrawer from its 'guidesuEach-of the-springfingers '52 is;providedwith anupwardly bent finger-engaging portion :58 atits'free-end by which thespringfingers may be lifted to removepins:'56-from.the aligned openings and thus release the .broiler drawer8 for removal from itsguides. .It is to be noted that such removal may beeflected after simply pulling the drawer 8 outwardly whereupon the spring fingers 52 are readily accessible without having to perform any unusual manipulaa pair of elongated similar metal channel members, each having a web, a narrow side wall at one edge of said web and a wider side wall at the other edge of said web, said channel members being arranged with the narrow side wall of each extending between the side walls of the other and spaced therefrom and from the inner face of the web of the other;

a block of low friction plastic material fixed in one end of one channel member and having portions slidably engaging both faces and the free edge of the narrow side wall of the other member and at least one surface of the web of the other member; and

a similar block of low friction plastic material fixed in the other end of the other member whereby said blocks guide said members for relative longitudinal sliding movement while preventing metal-to-metal contact between said members.

2. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein said portions of said block define a generally L-shaped slot through said block.

3. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 including spaced stop means on one of said members on opposite sides of and engageable with the block on the other member to limit relative sliding movement between said members.

4. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said blocks has an end abutting the web of its elongated member and is provided with an integral projection extending from said end into an opening in said web and means securing the other end of said block to the wider side wall of its elongated member adjacent the outer edge thereof.

5. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein said wider side walls extend generally horizontally, one above the other, the lower one being secured to a fixed support and the upper one being releasably secured to a drawer. 

1. A drawer slide comprising: a pair of elongated similar metal channel members, each having a web, a narrow side wall at one edge of said web and a wider side wall at the other edge of said web, said channel members being arranged with the narrow side wall of each extending between the side walls of the other and spaced therefrom and from the inner face of the web of the other; a block of low friction plastic material fixed in one end of one channel member and having portions slidably engaging both faces and the free edge of the narrow side wall of the other member and at least one surface of the web of the other member; and a similar block of low friction plastic material fixed in the other end of the other member whereby said blocks guide said members for relative longitudinal sliding movement while preventing metal-to-metal contact between said members.
 2. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein said portions of said block define a generally L-shaped slot through said block.
 3. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 including spaced stop means on one of said members on opposite sides of and engageable with the block on the other member to limit relative sliding movement between said members.
 4. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said blocks has an end abutting the web of its elongated member and is provided with an integral projection extending from said end into an opening in said web and means securing the other end of said block to the wider side wall of its elongated member adjacent the outer edge thereof.
 5. A drawer slide as defined in claim 1 wherein said wider side walls extend generally horizontally, one above the other, the lower one being secured to a fixed support and the upper one being releasably secured to a drawer. 